Current automated vending systems often do not permit precise control of inventory and sale of particular products within the vending systems. For example, such automated vending systems often require that the vended products be manually placed into a particular arrangement, or that each product be placed into a particular receptacle, and/or that the vending system be programmed or notified, each time inventory is added or subtracted, of the particular receptacle locations corresponding to a particular item or type of item. In such arrangements, precise, automated inventory control is hindered, and risk of inventory anomalies (e.g. unaccounted theft or product damage) is increased. Such systems often operate according to an assumption that the physical presence of the vended items, and their location within the vending system, remains the same from the time the products are loaded into the vending system to the time the products are dispensed from the vending system. For various reasons, this assumption leads to inefficiencies and errors in inventory management, and can often be a hindrance to automated inventory management.